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13 edible flowers you should eat but probably don’t

Throw some flowers in your salad!

When you think about eating from the garden, you probably think about fresh tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers. However, you might not realize how healthy (and tasty!) the flower blossoms can be.

People have been eating flowers for centuries, tracing back to Roman times, and also to the Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Indian cultures. But before you start randomly eating flowers from your garden, you’ll need to do a bit of research. You don’t want to go eating the wrong ones -- some are deadly poisonous!

Flowers you grow yourself are probably the best. That way you know the source and can ensure that they don’t contain pesticides.

Some of the best edible flowers include:

Bee balm

Calendula

Day lilies

Hollyhocks

Lavender

Marigolds

Nasturtiums

Pansies

Roses

Scarlet runner bean

Sunflowers

Squash blossoms

Violets

Flowers can be a delicious treat. But keep in mind that you should introduce flowers into your diet in small quantities, one species at a time. Just like when babies introduce new foods into their diet at a young age, you’ll want to do the same for a new food like edible flowers.

For a list of edible flower recipes, go to: www.dietcrusher.com/13-edible-flowers-eat/